Unparalleled
by EagleEye14
Summary: Damon has led a life filled with many partners, many loves, but none of the memories he has of them compare to what Jeremy Gilbert makes him feel. Damon's response: spend eternity with the young man.
1. Chapter 1

**Unparalleled**

Damon Salvatore was a man, or a vampire for those technical people, who often found himself falling in love, or more often than not, lust. Whether it be a beautiful woman or the occasional handsome man, for the span of his 145 year life as a bloodsucker, he had found romance several times. Naturally, the eldest Salvatore brother liked to look back on some of his conquests, the great loves, as he liked to call them, and reminisce on some of the more devious moments. This process usually left the vampire filled with pride; the memories of his past partners made him feel stronger.

The feeling of fulfillment he once felt when looking back, however, was no longer there. Instead, emptiness and dissatisfaction would engulf him. And Damon Salvatore knew exactly who to blame: Jeremy Gilbert. The youngest Gilbert had, in the span of a mere six months, written over almost anything he had ever felt for the women and men of his past.

Damon constantly found himself comparing Jeremy to every significant partner in his past, and found that in every case, Jeremy won hands down. The night he snapped the younger man's neck, he felt something he had never felt before. Regret, anger at himself, he was consumed by it. He had seen the ring, he had known what was going to happen, that in minutes the teen would rise up and go back to his broody, self-induced sadness, but before he even turned his hands, the guilt hit him.

He had went home that night, and instead of drowning himself in the liquor he had begun to stockpile, instead of going out and looking for the bitch who had irrevocably altered his life and the relationship between he and his brother, he went to his room. He sprawled out across his bed and began to think. He worked his way backwards, pondering the time since his return to Mystic Falls, and when the rolling in his stomach and bad taste in his mouth started, he decided to do what always cheered him up: think about his past sexual escapades.

Imagine his surprise when his thoughts would begin to take whomever he was thinking about and compare certain aspects to the 16 year old. Dissatisfaction would course through him, and, to stop the further self-betrayal of his mind, he would push himself to sleep.

Any hope of it being a one time occurrence quickly vanished, when for the proceeding three nights the same thing occurred. He tried chalking it up to feeling actual guilt for what he had done, and that had been hard enough to swallow, and when so far as to speculate that it might be caused by the fact that no one wanted anything to do with him, except for the person he had intentionally hurt.

He is surprised to see him approach at the carnival, and doesn't know how to respond. He acts like he usually would, sarcastic, and threatens to kill him. The teen even showed up at his house, and after a bit of conversation, he finally understands him some more, and, in his mind, they reach some tentative form of friendship.

As he takes his place on his bed, he thinks that the rampant thoughts would stop as he made peace with Jeremy, but they become worse. He somehow always comes back to Jeremy.

~(*)~(*)~(*)~

In 2006, he had met Isobel. A beautiful woman, the ring did little to deter him, whose eyes sparkled with amazement at the mere mention of vampires. He would remember the awe he would feel in his stomach when he saw that look. Now all he can think about when he looks back at Isobel is that the beauty of her eyes didn't come close to Jeremy's. While Isobel's eyes were beautiful when she listened to, talked to, or even was fed from a vampire, Jeremy's eyes always had beauty; his eyes would float through Damon's mind when he was awake, and when he was asleep.

The year of 1990 brought Bree to him, and while his renewed quest for Katherine initially drew him to the witch, her personality, the way she made him feel light and airy, kept him attached to her for the better part of a year, a long relationship by Damon standards. But the feeling she gave him was minimal compared to reactions Jeremy brought forth. When near the boy, Damon felt younger, and he knew his cockiness and arrogance was less hostile and more flirtatious in the boy's presence.

The list went on and on, Damon becoming more critical of each and every person.

In 1977: A young painter named Pierre. Damon had met him in Versailles, and his gorgeous body had managed to keep Damon's interest for a few months. Thinking of Pierre's lithe frame did little to excite him, while thinking of the softly defined planes of Jeremy's body.

In 1951: Damon had managed to sneak on to a U.S. naval base in Okinawa. There he had met Utada, a beautiful Japanese woman with whom he had not only shared his bed, but his mind. He had spent hours talking with her, and while the arrangement had only last a mere six weeks, he used to look back on those conversations as the some of the best of his existence. He didn't hang off of Utada's every word like he does Jeremy; he didn't look forward to interacting with her like he does with Jeremy - the best parts of his week are his witty exchanges with the brunette.

In 1926: Damon had met a woman named Janet in London. The feeling of her skin, while amazing, would no doubt pale to the feeling of Jeremy's fair-skin.

In 1901: Berlin had been full of tension, the country was on a road to complete self-destruction, and Aksel, a blonde, muscular farmer, had taken Damon in. He had been compelled to of course, but the softness he felt for the farmer was sandpaper when put against the silky sensation he felt when in the presence of Jeremy.

In 1888: Damon had taken up residence with Maria, a daughter of a high ranking official in Spain. She brought a sense of adventure, of forbidden desire. Jeremy brought all of that, and managed to bring the complete spectrum of emotion as well.

In 1864: Katherine. She was his everything. She made the sun brighter, the moon glow harder. Gravity was weak when near her. She had completed his soul, until she took it and desecrated it. He knew, without an ounce of doubt, that Jeremy could never do what that monster had done.

~(*)~(*)~(*)~

Damon knew why he was having this reaction, looking back, it started the first night he ate at the Gilbert's house, and in his gut, he knew it had been growing since then. No one could measure up the boy, he mused. Everyone who had at one point meant something to him, romantically, aroused feelings that bore no magnitude to what he felt for Jeremy.

That night, the night that Jeremy had sought him out, after everything he had done to the boy, Damon Salvatore decided no matter what his brother or Elena said, he was going to spend eternity with Jeremy Gilbert, because to him, Jeremy Gilbert was unparalleled.

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**AN: Please review if you think I should continue this, or if you would be interested in being a Beta Reader for this story and a couple of others. Please feel free to check out my other stories, In A Perfect World, a Matt/Jeremy pairing, and Mine, a Tyler/Jeremy pairing. Reviews rock!**


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: Finally updated! More to come, so review! Check out my other stories, been updating all of them! (For creative purposes, Bonnie/Jeremy happened early on in Season 2). I own nothing._

**_Unparalleled: Chapter Two_**

Making Jeremy Gilbert his proved to be problematic. Damon Salvatore had seduced worldly, gorgeous men and women before. Royalty, nobility, the socially elite: they had all been drawn into his bed.

It was pretty ironic that the one time he wanted to draw someone into his arms, he couldn't get the young, broody teen to give him the time of day.

What drove him even crazier was the fact that the object of his desires had become smitten with the little witch-bitch.

It had been hard watching his brother dance around Katherine. It had sucked. Watching Jeremy with the witch…was like getting staked a dozen times.

He knew with out a doubt that whatever he felt for the youngest Gilbert had cemented into the one word that Damon Salvatore feared the most: love.

~(*)~(*)~(*)~(*)~(*)~

Caroline was a vampire. Witch-bitch blamed him and tried to kill him. And to add the cherry to top of his shitty-day sundae, the guy he was in love with was sitting on his couch with a stake.

"Oh, a gift," Damon said, heading for the vodka.

"I wouldn't. Vervaine," Jeremy said, his voice laden with inebriation.

"You drink the whole damn bottle," Damon said, a little worried, not that would admit it.

"No, just enough," Jeremy leered.

Damon sighed and took a seat next to the drunken teen, silently reveling in their closeness. Jeremy dropped the stake, and the men sat there in silence.

"Is there something wrong with me, like honestly," Jeremy glumly asked, breaking the eerily calm silence.

His comment took Damon by surprise. Seeing him on his couch was a big enough shock, the stake was admittedly a little less surprising, but didn't expect this line of thought.

"Too easy kiddo. Out of weed? You're headphones broke? Tell me, what sends teens into these self-induced emo comas," Damon said, hiding behind words he didn't even mean.

"She doesn't see me. No one sees me," Jeremy said, voice a little thick with emotion.

_I see you, _Damon thought. He asked Jeremy if he meant Bonnie.

"I'm just some stupid kid, Elena's little brother. I'm always Elena's little brother," he said.

_You're not a stupid kid. You're more than Elena's little brother to me, _Damon thought. He told Jeremy that his love life was perfectly fine.

"Are you serious? Let's take a look at my romantic life, or lack of," Jeremy slurred. "First, there is Vicki. Total bitch, hot as shit, but total bitch."

Despite the somberness in the young man's voice, Damon couldn't help but let a laugh out. Jeremy, at hearing this, seemed a little offended.

"It's true man," Jeremy screeched.

"You don't handle your liquor so well, do you," Damon said through his smirk.

"I do too," Jeremy once again slurred. "I loved that girl, I really did."

Damon felt his gut twist at that, not liking where the conversation was heading. Sitting down next to the teen, he did his best to keep his face disinterestedly amused. He motioned for Jeremy to continue.

"I loved her. But I hated her too. She used me. She ruined me," Jeremy said, his voice cracking.

"She didn't ruin you," Damon said, his mask slipping.

"She did! I loved that she made me forget, but she drug me into this pit. So full of darkness. I wanted so bad to break free, to get out the drugged haze. But she just kept pulling me back in, trapping me," Jeremy said.

"Do you know what it is like to be stuck, to want to do something so bad, but you can't," he asked, bloodshot eyes seeking Damon's orbs.

_I want to grab you and kiss you, does that count_, Damon thought. Instead he answered that he had been in that position before.

"I could kill her for you," Damon said, reverting to his usual jackass persona. "Oh, wait, been there, done that. Happy birthday."

Jeremy let loose a humorless laugh before once again looking Damon in the eyes.

"Missed my birthday dude. Besides, I thought snapping my neck trumped turning my semi-girlfriend into a vampire. A two for one deal," Jeremy said sarcastically.

Damon felt another twist in his gut, and barely managed to keep his face neutral.

"What can I say? I'm a giver," he said, getting up and heading over to his handy bottle of whiskey.

"Why did you do it," Jeremy asked, his voice emotionless.

"Because I could," Damon said.

"Why did you snap my neck," Jeremy asked.

If he needed to breathe to live, Damon would be in serious trouble.

"Because I could feel," Damon said.

Jeremy snorted at that, not really understanding the difference.

"Anna was like Vicki. She was an escape. She was going to make me a vampire," Jeremy said.

"Why would you want that Jere," Damon said, realizing his slip too late.

Jeremy looked up at him through is drunken haze and said the words that caused Damon to vibrate with anger.

"I wanted to be like you," Jeremy said, completely honest.

"What do you mean by that Jeremy," Damon said, his fists clenching.

"I wanted to be numb," the teen said, sounding so broken, his voice betraying how tired he was.

Damon took a moment, calming himself before he answered.

"It's a myth, you know," Damon started, watching as the teen succumbed to sleep brought on by his over-drinking. "You can't block it out all out, especially when you find something that you can't tune out."

He reached down and brushed a lock of hair from the teen's face, loving the soft texture of his hair.

Looking down at the passed out teen, he knew it would so easy to rip off the vervain bracelet wrapped around his wrist. It would be easy to make him love him. But that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted Jeremy to want him. He wanted Jeremy to love him because it was real.

Standing, he spread a blanket out over Jeremy, giving him one last gaze before he headed upstairs to bed, alone.

Just as he was leaving the living room, he turned back and took in the broken mess of a boy.

He would wait as long as it took for him to see that here was something between them. After all, there was no one like him in the world, he is of course unparalleled.


	3. Chapter 3

Unparalleled

Chapter Three

Damon had fallen into a somewhat easy friendship with the youngest Gilbert. He had thought it would be complicated, that the people who knew both of them would question the new friendship, which in turn would cause the young Gilbert to back away from Damon.

He knew he had a reputation. He knew had done horrible, unspeakable things. And he never could feel remorse, never could understand why there was such a huge disconnect from his emotions and his actions.

Jeremy blew that into smithereens. He made Damon feel, feel so full of want and desire and a feeling he had done his best to avoid since Katherine Pierce had come into his life. Even if nothing romantic could blossom between the two men, friendship would be enough. To be able to talk with Jeremy, to laugh with and just be around him…it was enough.

He went out of his way to show that he had a soft spot for emo teen. Damon still acted like an ass with everyone else, often going out of his way to make Elena or Stefan the but of any and all of his jokes. His recent behavior threw the doppelganger for a loop. She was so used to having him wrapped around her finger.

Little did she know all he wanted was to be wrapped around any part of Jeremy. The time they spent as friends was random at best. Sporadic meetings constituted the entire basis for their friendship. Despite their meetings being completely random, the fact did little to deter Damon, who immensely enjoyed his time with the young man.

~(*)~(*)~(*)~(*)~(*)~(*)~(*)~(*)~(*)~

It was on one such night that the two men found themselves in each other's company. Damon had been enjoying a book when he could feel Jeremy enter the Salvatore mansion. He had immediately met the young man at the door, surprised to see a stack of movies.

They had settled in a room designed to act as an entertainment area. The selection of films that Jeremy had brought with him had a recurrent theme that amused Damon: they were all vampire films.

They were in the middle of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, much to the chagrin of the older man, when the scene of someone enjoying being bitten flashed across the screen. A tenseness filled the air, and Damon could see, through the corner of his eye, Jeremy shifting in his seat as he watched the images on the screen.

"What's it like, biting someone," Jeremy asked, diverting his attention away from the screen and looking directly at Damon.

"Messy," Damon said, not liking where the conversation was going. "Watch the movie Gilbert."

"I'm being serious Damon. How does it feel to bite someone," Jeremy prodded.

"Seductive. Powerful. To take what you need to survive, and sometimes just for the hell of it, it's a power trip," Damon admitted.

Jeremy was silent for a minute, a contemplative look on his face. Clearing his throat, he asked Damon the question that was bouncing around his mind. "Would you bite me," he asked.

Damon looked over at Jeremy and asked him if he was serious. The thought being that intimate with him sent him into overdrive. The thought of tasting him, _all _aspects of him, made Damon hungry in the worst way.

"Yeah, I'm serious. I don't remember ever being bitten. I want to see how it feels," Jeremy answered, the picture of innocence.

Something inside of Damon roared to life at the thought biting the beautiful pale flesh, of marking Jeremy as his and his alone.

"You don't know what you're talking about Jeremy," Damon said, his resolve quickly crumbling. He could feel his eyes burn, his throat constricting at the thought of sinking his fangs into his neck.

"I do Damon. I want to know why people think of it as such an aphrodisiac. I want to feel it for myself," Jeremy said.

Damon paused for a minute, weighing his options. A part of him screamed and clawed at his insides, desperate to get at the teen, thirsty for so much more than what he was being offered. The other part of himself was resisting with everything in him. It was that side that lost. Jeremy was too much to resist, just sitting there, subconsciously bearing his neck, offering it for the taking.

Damon suddenly nodded. Jeremy went limp, trusting Damon to guide him however he needed to be positioned. Damon leaned over Jeremy. He could feel his fangs extract themselves from his gums, could tell, only by the gasp that flew from Jeremy's mouth, that his eyes had reverted to their deep amber. He looked into Jeremy's eyes, giving him a chance to call the whole thing off. When he was met with no resistance, he closed the distance between himself and Jeremy's neck, his fangs slipping into heaven.

Jeremy moaned as Damon's fangs pierced his neck. The noises the young man emitted spurred Damon, causing his undead heart to clench and his pants to grow tight. Angling himself so that he had better access to Jeremy, he pushed the teen farther onto the couch, stretching half of his body over the prone teen.

Jeremy's moan came fast and stronger, his fingers blindly reach up and curling in Damon's hair, trying, as if possible, to pull the man closer into him, to have his teeth pull deeper. Without thinking, he wrapped his dangling, uncovered leg around Damon's waist, again trying to pull him deeper into him.

Damon was in heaven. He gulped down the essence of life, the quintessential reason for Jeremy existing. It was an all new high. Nothing had ever compared to it before. Even after more than a century of existence, nothing could touch this. Jeremy, lying under him, so trusting, so delectable, offering up something that he was just so used to taking. To feel his smooth skin, his soft, dark hair.

Damon withdrew his fangs the second he felt Jeremy's leg wrap around his waist. Instead of drawing more blood, he feathered light kisses along the incision marks, licking away remnants of the bite. Pulling back, he gazed down at the youngest Gilbert. His eyes were closed, ecstasy coursing through his now less-full veins. Damon's pants were unbearably tight, his fantasy playing out right under him. Jeremy opened his eyes.

Their orbs met and in that moment they both understood that what happening, that what was about to happen, was so much more than a simple bite. A drop of blood remained on Damon's lips, taunting Jeremy. The young man reached up and swiped with his finger, slowly bringing it to his own lips.

The second Jeremy's lips touched his own finger, Damon lost it. He gently pulled Jeremy's hand away from his own mouth. Licking his lips, Damon descended slowly, giving Jeremy ample opportunity to flee.

Jeremy was mesmerized himself. Damon's lips were slowly moving towards, so close, too slow. Surprising both himself and Damon, he once again threaded his fingers through Damon's hair, taking a firm grip. Deciding in that moment what he wanted, he pulled Damon's lips to his own, both men groaning at the contact.

There was simple, little word that described the union: heavenly. Just as Damon thought, in every thing he did, especially this kiss, Jeremy was unparalleled.

**AN: Sorry I took so long! I hope you guys like it, or if you're new to the story, review and tell me what you think! This chapter is really meant to help me build a bridge to what I have coming next, but I am unsure whether there is still any interest in the story. Let me know if there is!**


	4. Chapter 4

Unparalleled

Chapter Four

* * *

Damon was mulling around his room, a small content smile plastered across his face. He had been afraid that his kiss would be poorly received; he thought that Jeremy would have balked at his advance. Instead, Damon was pleasantly surprised to find Jeremy a more than willing participant.

He loathed to admit it, but their kiss had been perfect. So perfect, that Damon had decided that it would be best for Jeremy to go home for the evening. He had explained that rather than talk about what they had just experienced right then, that maybe it would be better if they slept on what they had just experienced.

Jeremy had tried to disagree, but Damon won out in the end, a fact that had caused the younger Gilbert to pout. To Damon, Jeremy seemed more than okay with what had transpired between the two, a fact that pleased Damon to no end, and also promised a happy night reflecting on the perfection that was Jeremy Gilbert.

This promise, however, was near impossible the when his dear brother decided to rain on his parade.

"Is this some sick way of getting to Elena?" Stefan asked, perched in the entryway to Damon's room. "Jeremy, I mean. Really Damon, on the couch in the main sitting room where anyone can see you? You're slipping," he finished, glaring at his brother.

"This may come as a surprise, dear brother," Damon began, immediately tensing at the mention of the object of his affection, "but my life doesn't revolve around Elena Gilbert, nor does it center upon claiming her as my own," he finished, turning his back.

"Then why Jeremy? Jesus Damon, why the hell would you be interested in him unless he wasn't serving some purpose?" Stefan said, moving into the room.

Damon whirled around and faced his brother. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe I just like his company?" he asked.

"Honestly Damon, I have a hard time believing that considering your track record. Everything you do is geared towards somehow getting exactly what you want. That's how it's been and how it's always going to be," Stefan said, before he continued. "This whole thing seems like an attempt to get Elena. Her little brother? Really? Little desperate for you Damon," he finished as he watched his brother move across his room to his bed.

"For the love of God, Elena doesn't factor into this at all, besides the fact that her room is right next to his and one day things might get a little awkward," Damon responded, flashing his trademark smirk as he jumped back on to his bed, propping himself up.

At Stefan's incredulous look, Damon huffed before he once again began talking. "I want nothing to do with Elena Gilbert. She is another Katherine waiting to happen. Been on that crazy train, no way in hell am I getting back on it," he said.

"Elena is nothing like Katherine," Stefan said, trying to defend his girlfriend, angry that his brother dared to voice such a comparison.

"Elena is exactly like Katherine. Don't delude yourself into thinking that she isn't," Damon said, his eyebrows arching into his hairline, his face conveying his disbelief and disgust.

Stefan shook his head. "How do you even get to that conclusion. Please, enlighten me," he said.

"She string us along Stefan. Open your eyes. She plays you off of me and plays me against you. Sound familiar?" Damon said, swiftly losing patience with the other man. "She is manipulative as the day is long. She may not realize it now, pretty sure Katherine didn't either in the beginning, but she uses people. She is self-centered, a true narcissist" Damon said, his face reflecting how deeply he believed his words.

"Elena is far from self-centered," Stefan replied. "I bet she wouldn't be thinking about herself if I told her just what Jeremy had been up to lately. Guarantee Jenna wouldn't be so appreciative either," Stefan retorted, confident that his words would cause Damon to pause.

"Don't you dare bring him into this, Stefan. Leave him alone," Damon growled, his eyes succumbing to his inner nature. He ghosted across the room, too quick for even a vampire as old as Stefan to prepare. "Whatever I have going with Jeremy is between me and him. Leave Elena out of the loop," he said as he dropped his brother and moved to leave the room.

Stefan stood up quickly and caught Damon in the hall before he could descend the stairs. Damon growled as his brother's hands came into contact with his skin, his warning evident in the vicious sound. Stefan backed up, his hands in the air, attempting to show he meant no harm.

"What makes him so special?" Stefan asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Damon failed to his answer his brother right away, opting instead to formulate an answer which simultaneously answered Stefan's question while allowing Damon to keep some shred of privacy.

"I've never meant anyone like before," Damon admitted. "I've been around for more than 140 years and I've never come across someone like him," Damon said softly, unused to vulnerable feeling he was suddenly burdened with.

Stefan just shook his head. "I've heard this before Damon, many times. And you always come right back to Katherine, and now Elena," he said, not an ounce of compassion or sympathy detectable in his voice.

Damon sighed heavily, unwilling to launch himself into another argument. "I can't go back to wanting or loving either of them. I don't think I ever loved either of them to be honest," Damon started.

"Katherine was this powerful creature that called to me. She could give me this life of adventure. That's what influenced my liking of her. And Elena was just an echo of that. I wanted them for their bodies and what they could give me, not what I feel," Damon continued, sincerity wringing through his words, slowly crumbling Stefan's resolve to destroy whatever was budding between the two men.

Stefan was at a loss of words. The old Damon he had once known, the Damon before Katherine Pierce and vampirism and the Civil War, was standing in front of him. Stefan couldn't recall a time he had seen Damon's eyes so full of affection and certainty. It was disconcerting to him, to think that Jeremy wasn't just a pawn in one of his brother's games, but more of an ideal mate. His logic was further supported by Damon's following words.

"I want Jeremy because he make's my chest feel tight. He makes me feel human Stefan. Do you know how much I miss that? Feeling human? Ever since you forced me into this life I have been trying to clamp down the 'switch' that everyone keeps talking about. But I can't, and it just sucks," Damon admitted, finally opening up.

Stefan's heart clenched, the familiar tingling of guilt radiating from within himself. He had no clue how deep his brother's emotions ran.

Damon was silent, trying to shut out all of the feelings that were pounding down on him. "He makes me feel human, and it doesn't hurt when I'm with him. When I'm near him it's all manageable. I don't feel the urge to destroy or hurt things."

Stefan regarded his brother with a new look. Damon's words made sense; the man had been docile and quiet. "I'll stay quiet. I won't tell Elena or Jenna," he said, doing his best to reassure his brother.

Damon just nodded his head in response. "Thank you, that's all that I ask. This is new for both of us," he said after a moment of silence.

Giving his brother a cross between a smirk and a genuine smile, he moved to reenter his room. Picking up his phone, he shot off a text to the youngest Gilbert, inquiring what he had planned for the weekend.

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**AN: So what do you think? Thank you guys for all of the awesome reviews, I really appreciated them; they gave me the inspiration to keep writing. **

**So, having said that, give me some more inspiration!**


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